India's 'Standard Operating Procedure' (SOP), which had been hindering the export of tea from Nepal to India, has finally been revised.
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India's 'Standard Operating Procedure' (SOP), which has been hampering tea exports from Nepal to India, has finally been revised.
Following the directives of the Indian Ministry of Commerce, the Indian Tea Board has relaxed the mandatory testing regime imposed on imported tea.
According to a notification issued by the Tea Board on Tuesday, tea entering India for domestic sale has been exempted from mandatory laboratory testing for the time being. With this, Nepali tea exports, which have been almost at a standstill for the past two weeks, are expected to ease again.
Aditya Parajuli, President of the Nepal Tea Producers Association, said that tea exports will now be as easy as before after the Indian side amended the rules. 'With the implementation of the new regime, industrialists are preparing to send tea stopped at the border back to India,' he said.
According to the new rule implemented by India from May 1, a sample of every tea 'consignment' going from Nepal had to be collected and tested in a laboratory in Kolkata. Industrialists, exporters and farmers were in distress due to having to stop vehicles, pay high fees and wait for a long time until the test report came.
Industrialists have given an example of a tea truck sent from Jhapa through the Panitanki border crossing being stopped on the Indian side for 14 days. They complain that the laboratory report of the tea, whose sample was collected only four days later, has not come even after 10 days.
According to the new amendment, although mandatory testing will no longer be applicable to tea sold in India, testing will remain mandatory for tea that is re-exported. In addition, the Tea Board has retained the provision to conduct ‘random’ testing.
According to tea entrepreneur Uday Chapagain, since most of the tea going to India from Nepal is for the Indian domestic market, this decision will reduce delays at the border, reduce costs and normalize the export process.
A few days ago, employees of the Indian Tea Board in West Bengal had warned Indian traders not to buy tea from Nepal. They were also given a signal that if tea is found imported from Nepal, they will go to the warehouse and collect samples. After this, Nepali industrialists became even more nervous.
Meanwhile, the Nepali Embassy in Delhi has been continuously taking diplomatic initiatives with the Indian Ministry of Commerce.
Currently, there are about 120 tea industries, both large and small, operating in Nepal, while more than 100 small and medium entrepreneurs are active in this sector. The tea sector provides employment to 50,000 to 60,000 people directly and indirectly.
